Targeting Decision Makers

Jason Robinson

September 26, 2014

portable display

tradeshow booths

You may know what businesses you want to target, but do you know the right person within that business to speak to? It’s not enough to simply market to a business or two, you have to know who your message will reach, and whether or not your message is actually reaching the right person.

How to Find the Right Person

If you want to sell products to a specific restaurant, for example, it makes no sense to pitch your goods to a server. That server doesn’t have the power to make the decision to purchase what you’re selling, so your efforts will be wasted. Often, finding the right person depends on the size of the business you are targeting.

Small businesses: often, the person that makes all the major decisions in a small or medium size business is the owner of the company. If you aren’t speaking to the owner, you’re not talking to the right person.

Larger businesses: when it comes to a larger business, you’ll likely have to find out who leads a particular department. Once you have found that person, find out if they can actually make the decision to purchase things or to make a business deal with your company.

A good rule of thumb is to find the highest ranking person that you can, and move along from there. If you’ve contacted the wrong person, ask to be put in touch with the right person – more often than not, people will be willing to help you find the person to speak with if you do things the right way.

A Bit of Detective Work

The Internet is your best friend when it comes to finding out who to speak to in a business or organization. Check out sites like LinkedIn for company profiles and pages, and look for the people listed as part of that company – often, you can’t connect with someone directly through LinkedIn, but you can do further research to find out how you can contact that person through email or phone.

At the Tradeshow

Here’s where all the information that you’ve dug up about a decision maker will come in handy. Hopefully you are following company news for the business that you want to target (either through newsletters or through social media), and hopefully you have noticed that the company will be at a future tradeshow. Make sure to attend that show, and speak to the people that are operating company tradeshow booths.

If you are targeting a smaller company, you may even be lucky enough to speak directly to the owner of a business at an upcoming tradeshow. If you approach a tradeshow booth with a plan, you can also gain information like who the person is that you need to speak to. Lastly, don’t be shy when asking who you need to connect with. There’s no shame in saying outright, “Hey, I need to reach the purchasing manager, can you tell me who that is?” You never know, you may just get a name right away.

Your Own Tradeshow Presence

Keep in mind that people looking to target your company will attend tradeshows too. This means that you should have tradeshow booths that stands out, so you can attract the right attention. If you do operate a small company, consider attending the tradeshow along with your team, so that you can connect with potential new clients.

If you need a new portable display or any other kind of display, make sure to contact the Blazer team. We’d be happy to show you our portable display options, and to provide you with additional information about creating and maintaining a portable display or larger display option.